This application claims the priority of German patent document 199 43 536.7, filed Sep. 11, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a wheel bearing housing for suspending a wheel of a vehicle which is provided with a wheel brake.
In general, the function of wheel bearing housings of vehicles is to connect a wheel with a vehicle body and to guide the wheel. In the case of driven wheels, bearings are provided in addition for a drive shaft.
From the German patent document DE 28 30 450 C3, a radius link for the wheel of a vehicle has become known, for which the radius link is constructed hollow. The cavity of the link is provided with two openings. The first opening is disposed closed to a braking device, which is radially within the wheel. A second opening is aligned in the driving direction, so that the air stream is directed through the hollow wheel radius link onto the brake. If this arrangement is to be used in conjunction with a wishbone, a blade-shaped deflection surface should be provided at the inlet opening, in order to steer the air stream in the direction of the inlet opening. The cost of manufacturing the cavity is a disadvantage of this known solution.
Therefore, starting out from this state of the art, it is an object of the invention to provide a wheel suspension device, which has facilities for guiding air and can be constructed less expensively.
Pursuant to the invention, this objective is accomplished with a wheel bearing housing for guiding a wheel of a vehicle, the wheel, mounted at the wheel bearing housing, being provided with a brake device, wherein an outside of the housing is constructed at least regionally as an air-guiding element.
It is proposed according to preferred embodiments of the invention that the outside of a wheel bearing housing be constructed at least regionally as an air-guiding element. The invention is based on the knowledge that it is sufficient to guide an entering air stream through air-guiding elements in the direction of a braking device. Compared to known solutions, the invention has the advantage that a continuous, closed duct does not have to be provided in the wheel suspension element, in this case a wheel bearing housing, and that the production of an external formation is significantly simpler.
Advantageous further developments of preferred embodiments of the invention are described below and in the claims. For example, it is proposed that the air-guiding element be constructed as an open duct. Such a construction can be produced clearly more easily than a closed duct guide and has essentially the same effect.
Furthermore, it is proposed that attachments, which are provided at the wheel bearing housing for connecting with a vehicle body, be used regionally to form a wall of the air-guiding element. By this measure, the cross section and guiding length of the air-guiding element can be enlarged further. In this connection, it is proposed concretely that the attachments be constructed curved and configured so that, at their point of attachment, they lead away from the wheel, that is, that they usually lie in a direction at right angles to the driving direction.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.